Perceived parenting behaviour, parental and youth psychopathology and the efficacy of family-cognitive

Abstract

The association between psychiatric illness in parents and their ability to parent, as well as the effect of the parenting behaviour on their children has both clinical and public mental health policy relevance. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based psychological • practice that reduces relapse rates and facilitates the recovery of persons who have mental illness when combined with standard psychiatric treatment methods . . Objectives: This clinical trial study was conducted to determine whether: (1) Maladaptive parenting behaviour is associated with parental and youths' psychiatric disorders; (2) Combined Family Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (F-CBT) with Standard Methods of Psychiatric Treatment Methods (SPTM) have better outcome in treating Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th Edition (DSM-IV) axis 1 psychiatric disorders found among family members than the SPTM alone. Methodology: History, psychological examinations and structured psychiatric interviews were carried out on a total sample of 678 participants; 250 youths, 226 mothers and 202 fathers to determine psychiatric disorders at; baseline, follow upl and follow up 2. Maladaptive parenting behaviours and mental state functioning were assessed using the Egna Minnen Betraffande Uppfostran (Swedish acronym of My Memories of upbringing-EMBU) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) questionnaires respectively. Psychiatric disorders were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Youths and Adolescents (MINI -Kid) administered to youth and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Adults (MINIPLUS) administered to parents. Participants were divided into two' groups randomly: intervention and control where intervention group received both F-CBT and SPTM and control received only SPTM. xxi Results: Most of the youth in the study perceived their parents to have high levels of maladaptive parenting behaviour, whether or not the parents had a psychiatric disorder: 55.1%, of mothers were perceived to have rejecting, while 23.9% and 12.4% of them were perceived to be under protective and no emotional connectedness parenting behaviour. Among fathers: 53.8% were perceived to be under protective while 24.9%, and 7.6% were perceived to have rejecting and no emotional connectedness parenting behaviour. Most of the mothers had depressive disorders (51.3%).The presence of maternal depressive disorder was associated with increased odds (2.14 times greater) to have Major Depressive disorder (MDD) and suicidal behaviour among the youth. Fathers with alcohol use disorders had higher levels of maladaptive paternal parenting behaviour than did fathers without alcohol use disorders. Youths who had seen their father drunk/using alcohol excessively had high odds (2.82 times greater) of having alcohol dependence than youths who had not seen their father drunk/use alcohol excessively. The proportion of youths with alcohol use disorders that had peers using alcohol also (44.4%) was higher than the proportion of youths with alcohol use disorders (8.3%) but did not have peers using alcohol. An alcohol use disorder among fathers was also associated with increased maternal odds (2.42 times greater) of having depressive disorder. The families allocated to the experimental group had better outcome in terms of response to treatments as compared to the control group. Conclusion: These results provide significant vital insights into the effects of parenting behaviour and parents' psychopathology on the development of psychopathology in their youths.